GOALI: Nanopatterned thermally stable graded media

本研究的目的是探索一种新的想法，用于规避基本的超顺磁性限制，导致热不稳定性，导致任意切换的纳米尺寸的磁性元件所需的越来越高的密度超过1 Tbit/in 2的磁盘驱动器。该方法是使用自顶向下的纳米压印光刻图案化的光刻机沉积的薄膜制造纳米图案化的梯度各向异性磁介质。最近的理论预测表明，通过创建从一端具有低各向异性的软磁材料逐渐变化到另一端具有高各向异性的硬磁材料的磁性介质的纳米柱，可以避免热不稳定性。此外，小磁场可以用来切换高各向异性材料，使其更容易设计的读写磁头，是磁盘驱动器的另一个重要组成部分，该项目的智力价值是，它将解决一个基本的物理问题，是在目前的数据存储限制的核心。该项目是跨学科的性质，和共享的研究生将结合联合收割机的各种磁性材料的深入研究，以创建与实际纳米柱制造和测试相关的设备方面的梯度介质。这个GOALI项目产生的更广泛的影响将是多学科教育和女研究生接触工业压力以及学术严谨性，并有机会对未来数据存储的革命性概念进行实验证明。

The objective of this research is to explore a novel idea for circumventing the fundamental superparamagnetic limit that causes thermal instability leading to arbitrary switching of the nano-sized magnetic elements required for increasingly high density disk drives beyond 1 Tbit/in2. The approach is to fabricate nano-patterned graded anisotropy magnetic media using top-down nano-imprint lithography patterning of sputter-deposited films. Recent theoretical predictions indicate that by creating nano-columns of magnetic media that gradually change from a soft magnetic material with low anisotropy at one end to a hard magnetic material with high anisotropy at the other end, the thermal instability may be avoided. Moreover, small magnetic fields can be used to switch high anisotropy materials, making it easier to design the read-write head that is the other essential component of the disk drive.The intellectual merit of this project is that it will address a fundamental physical problem that is at the heart of the current limitations of data storage. The project is interdisciplinary in nature, and the shared graduate student will combine an in-depth study of various magnetic materials for creating the graded media with device aspects related to the actual nano-column fabrication and testing. The broader impacts resulting from this GOALI project will be the multi-disciplinary education and exposure of a female graduate student to industrial pressures as well as academic rigor, and the opportunity for experimental proof of a revolutionary concept for future data storage.